Holocaust-Era Assets Finding Aid

RG 84: Luxembourg

State Department and Foreign Affairs Records

Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department
of State (RG 84)

Luxembourg

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was invaded by German forces early in May 1940,
in violation of Luxembourg's neutrality. The Grand Duchess and the Cabinet
fled to London, establishing a government-in-exile there. In August 1940
a civil administration replaced the German military occupation government.
Two years later, on August 30, 1942, Luxembourg was declared a "Germanic" state
and incorporated into the Reich.

This incorporation completed the process of Nazi economic and financial penetration.
The Luxembourg banking system was integrated into the Reich. The whole
insurance business of Luxembourg was taken over by German enterprises which
replaced Belgian, French, British, and Swiss companies. Germany assumed
complete control of the iron ore mines of Luxembourg. The holdings of
the two systems of railways were acquired by the Germans through compulsory
sales.

Most of Luxembourg's small Jewish population were able to escape, but of the
remaining 1,400, some 1,000 were exterminated in the Final Solution, with most
being sent to Auschwitz, Lodz, and Theresienstadt.

United States troops entered the country on September 10, 1944, but Luxembourg
was not liberated until February 1945. (Note 84)